LOS ANGELES — Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani worked two scoreless innings against the Houston Astros on Saturday in his fourth mound start of the season, striking out the side in order in the second while pitching on his 31st birthday.
Ohtani allowed one hit and threw 31 pitches, 21 for strikes. He fanned Christian Walker, Victor Caratini and Yanier Diaz — all swinging — to conclude his latest outing as an opener as he works his way back from elbow surgery.
Houston scored four runs in the third against reliever Justin Wrobleski and went on to win 6-4.
In his previous mound start a week earlier, Ohtani threw the fastest pitch of his career at 101.7 mph. This time, he hit triple digits only once — a 100.9 mph fastball that Caratini fouled off.
''Very impressed,'' Dave Roberts said of Ohtani's pitching. ''His stuff continues to get better, the command, the feel for making pitches. It's nice to see he doesn't have to throw as hard as he can. It's more of a controlled fastball, controlled stuff. Really efficient with the double play in the first inning. Looking at the next one we'll have a discussion and how much and what we expect of him. Really impressed how he's continued to get better and better each time out.''
Dodgers organist Dieter Ruehle played one line of ''Happy Birthday'' as Ohtani walked to the dugout after the second inning. Before the game, the Los Angeles grounds crew wrote the message ''HB Sho'' in the dirt.
''I'm already at an age where I don't celebrate birthdays like I used to do,'' Ohtani said through an interpreter. ''With that being said, I'm grateful for everyone who said happy birthday to me. As long as I can can play the way I want to play, I usually spend my birthday just like any other day.''
Isaac Paredes led off against Ohtani with a single to left. Ohtani then got Cam Smith to hit a comebacker that second baseman Tommy Edman turned into a double play. Jose Altuve followed with a groundout as Ohtani retired the side on 10 pitches.
